Looks like giving an additional 40% off sale items for a couple days was a good idea: due to the overwhelming response, we've had a stumble in our checkout process. Between noonish and one-ish, our catalog reeled drunkenly in and out of being like a punchdrunk Rocky Balboa up against Clubber Lang. (Yes, we just compared our customers to Clubber Lang.)

We at Lori's assumed Burgess Meredith's role: we talked some sense and fortitude into it, monkeyed with some database-type stuff and got our catalog back on its feet and slinging shoes to all comers. We did nearly have a heart attack (just like Mickey!) when this happened and we will blithely skip over the amount of our embarrassment.

So: our apologies. We're keeping an eye on everything. If you had trouble accessing the sale section, it is now working. If you had trouble with an order, we are contacting you if we haven't already. In all cases, all our customers' personal information remains safe and encrypted in a secure server facility replete with power backups, guards, alarms and vicious, barking dogs.

Please do contact us at any time regarding present or future orders, comments or concerns: 773.281.5655 or 888.334.SHOE or email customer service.

When blogging wasn't pervasive enough, micro-blogging stepped up. Embodied by Twitter, the little app that could, the growing popularity of this online service is becoming hard to deny ... or avoid. Funnel your Facebook profile updates through blogging software, limit it to 140 characters and you're a micro-blogger. Start posting updates from your phone and you've entered the heart of status-update addiction. You'll even convince yourself everyone cares what you're up to at that very moment.

But if services like Twitter are fascinating in the power of their simplicity, they also tend to be rather general, leading you to ask yourself, "Why ... ?" We may have an answer: currently in beta testing, Try My Fashion is a micro-blogging service dedicated to (and only to) wardrobe updates. Given the runaway success of sites like The Sartorialist, a significant portion of the online community does cares how you look.

We've been using Twitter at Lori's to keep you abreast of new products and promotions even before they are online (so maybe you should follow us). We're excited to share our love of shoes as part of a whole outfit on this new and, we hope, successful wardrobe site!

The Mella by Calvin Klein (left in black) has arrived (online soon). The python patterned leather and short wedge heel are lively and fun, as is the silver insole, but what really motivated us was the sharp, structured cutouts on the wide T-strap and ankle.

This structured revelation of the foot feels very sharp and new, yet also a touch retro as if the ghost of Bauhaus has risen from the grave and came out sporting these kittens. We love the math of this shoe: the deliberateness of it is sexy and bespeaks a wearer who knows how to put together a look.

But Mella isn't the only shoe taking a turn for the Euclidian. In fact, it seems to be quite a trend. And no one, as usual, is internalizing and reinterpreting a trend like one of our favorite designers, Pour La Victoire.

We are OBSESSED with the Bianca by Pour La Victoire. This 4-1/2" pump with platform is going to be huge. It is in our spring deliveries and we've put a rush on it because we want it here NOW and FAST.

The geometry wows us. The shootie upper, punched with asymmetrical shapes, feels decidedly structural and architectural. It reminded us of Prada's flagship store in Tokyo or Rem Koolhaas's library in Seattle. And especially of the windows in Le Corbusier's Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut Ronchamp. And, like those windows, Bianca stragetically reveals your foot while the acid green leaher insole adds luminescence and glow.

We love this trend because it feels so deliberate and purposeful. Just by sporting this look, you instantly add relevence to your look; it dresses up your outfit. We think you can draw a straight line right through these shoes to a hot, current look that's a change-up from fall's covered up tall boots and shooties.

Cruise collections are arriving, whetting our appetite for the truly dynamite spring shoes coming in February. That's not to say that these pre-spring beauties lack any punch. Sam Edelman's recent arrivals are serious contenders for the title of hottest sandal.

These new sandals place great emphasis on embellishment, space and binding as ways to direct attention to the foot. They are decadent, flashy, bright and provocatively reference tropical sensuality and bedroom bondage.

The Giada is a wispy outline of a sandal in pony hair with gladiatorial ankle straps and a footplate laden with Masai-inspired beading. It's an over-the-top cacophony of colors and textures and forms that surround the foot, calling attention along your foot up the arch to your ankle and calves. A special touch -- a zipper on the heel cup -- makes them easy to slip on, belying their complex form.

And the Greco. Ah, the Greco. Our latest addition, this Athenian sandal in citrus green woven leather thongs looks as light as palm fronds and as warm as an Aegean summer. We love the peekaboo slatting effect these straps give our feet. The open heel with ankle straps furthers the sense of flirty revelations. The basket-woven top-of-foot creates a secondary texture that feel natural and easy.

Cruise is not just a warmup for spring, it's a release from fall heralding a return to bright colors, airy silhouettes and a welcome joie de vivre.

Sci-fi induced looks from Nicolas Ghesquière's Spring/ Summer collection for Balenciaga is rather spectacular. Not one to sucuumb to trends, Nicholas Ghesquière always paves his own way and delivers a new direction in fashion. This direction is a luxurious, futurist fantasy filled with fancy sporty boots.

Dries Van Noten's Spring/ Summer 2009 Collection is the kind of collection all women will look at and say to themselves.... 'I can see myself in that outfit.'

Dries Van Noten has found the harmony between inventive and commercially viable, which is where many of today's designers struggle. The collection is accessible and pragmatic and far from boring. It is simple, elegant and very wearable.

These are my favourite shoes and I will take the outfit too. I love the mix of elegant black and white colours.

Another favourite in black and white.

Absolutely beautiful. Very wearable too.

These are glamourous and would add that extra zing to a plain black outfit!

Alberta Ferretti's 2009 collection has her characteristic light touch with soft makeup tones. Although the collection was somewhat colourless, I like the feminine aspect of it and die hard fans will love it.